A conversation with Holly Jean Buck, author of a buzzy story about Bernie Sanders’ proposal for a national data center moratorium.
I think the data center backlash is mostly about data centers
It’s probably not your ideological thing, or mine. It’s about object-level claims about how data centers impact the communities where they’re built, many of which are wrong.
I think the data center backlash is mostly about data centers
It’s probably not your ideological thing, or mine. It’s about object-level claims about how data centers impact the communities where they’re built, many of which are wrong.
People Hate Datacenters, Survey Finds
The data drops as Sen. Bernie Sanders calls for a moratorium on datacenter construction. 'We need to take a deep breath. We need to make sure that AI and robotics work for all of us, not just a handful of billionaires.'
‘The Most Bipartisan Issue Since Beer’: Opposition to Data Centers
Americans have soured on data centers, polls show, and the sentiment is profoundly bipartisan. How will that change our politics?
Dave Troy on Twitter / X
Fears over datacenters are distorted along a few important axes:1) anxiety over AI, future employment, and control; they symbolize what people fear they are losing,2) compute centralization, which is actually probably not going to actually occur, because of financial…— Dave Troy (@davetroy) August 21, 2026
US views of how data centers affect the environment, energy costs, jobs and more
A broad majority of Americans have heard about data centers – the often-sprawling computing facilities that are popping up nationwide. But the public has mixed opinions about data centers’ impact…
Data centers have a political problem — and Big Tech wants to fix it
A growth engine for the economy is becoming a political albatross. Can messaging change that?
What Is the Economic Impact of Data Centers? It’s a Secret. - Inside Climate News
N.C. Gov. Josh Stein wants state lawmakers to rethink tax breaks for data centers. The industry’s opacity makes it difficult to evaluate costs and benefits.
The American People Really Hate Data Centers
There are at least five different core questions around data centers and their politics.
Data Center Watch
Free weekly updates on the political risks facing American data center projects
AI Is A Money Trap
In the last week, we’ve had no less than three different pieces asking whether the massive proliferation of data centers is a massive bubble, and though they, at times, seem to take the default position of AI’s inevitable value, they’ve begun to sour on the idea that
Reframing the narrative: How the data center industry can unite to improve its public image
By uniting around shared values of transparency, innovation, and responsibility, the data center industry can shift the conversation from criticism to collaboration
Sen. Bernie Sanders on Twitter / X
We need a moratorium on AI data centers NOW. Here’s why. pic.twitter.com/dRfAdQ67zD— Sen. Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) March 11, 2026
As tech companies race to build data centers, more communities are pushing back
Concerns about electricity bills and local impacts are fueling bipartisan opposition to the massive data centers that power the digital economy, from cloud services to AI chatbots. In Wisconsin, as in other states, the tussles are personal – and fraught.
A history of the data center panic - part 1
Pre-ChatGPT and the creation of common wisdom
A simple trick to fix the data center debate
Remove the status quo bias by asking "would we spend this much in tax revenue to avoid the externalities of the data center?"
